Participants must install these both. In all cases it makes best sense to install R first.
These instructions are for Ubuntu and other Debian based distributions. You will need to google for anything else but only the detail of the commands will change, not the sequence.
Installation of R base
It makes sense to include some extra tools for compilation of package code if you are a linux user - although you will probably not use them.
sudo apt-get install r-base r-base-devYou may be prompted to confirm installation: type y.
Instructions for other distributions are outlined here
Download the appropriate installer - don’t use the zip/tarball files. You will need to know not only what distribution the candidate has installed but also whether they have a 32 bit or 64 bit linux system.
To check the system type use the following command
uname -aIn the output you will see kernel name, network node hostname, kernel release, kernel version, machine hardware name, processor type, hardware platform, operating system.
The machine hard wqare type will be either 32 bit - i686 or i386 - or 64 bit - x86_64.
This produces this output on my machine:
Linux jim-Latitude-E7240 4.4.0-83-generic #106-Ubuntu SMP Mon Jun 26 17:54:43 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/LinuxOnce you have the file downloaded you must install it using the right software installation application. The following works on ubuntu which is the most popular distribution on desktop and laptop machines.
sudo gdebi -n rstudio-0.XX.XXX-XXX-XXXXX.debYou must replace the filename ending .deb with the name of the file you downloaded.
After installing R and RStudio please install two packages: tidyverse and packrat.
From the RStudio R console, type
install.packages("packrat")
install.packages("tidyverse")Background and instructions are at:
Make is a utility included in Unix like systems. Its original purpose was to automatically build software outputs during development.
In developing software, programmers often link to libraries of code from external sources. When software is built, if changes have been made to these sources then the link will need updating. If they have not then it wastes time to update the links.
Make can be used to build documents. Suppose that a LaTeX or Markdown contains an instruction to insert a .png graphic file. If the graphic file has been updated since the last time the document was built, then it needs rebuilding.
Or, consider the case where a data table is created from a spreadsheet file. If the spreadsheet has been updated, then the table in the document needs updating and the document should be rebuilt.
Make works out what needs to be rebuilt by looking at the timestamps to see when files were last modified and it only rebuilds what is necessary to create an up to date document.
There are several options. Windows users will see many recommendations to install MinGW or to install the Gnu Make utility from the Gnu website. I have found this fraught with complications and instead I recommend a single file install available at
Contrary to the instructions on the page this should be installed in the appropriate program files folder on Windows.
After installation you must test make. In the search box on windows start, type
makeIf you get a message saying no Makefile is found, good. This indicates success. If you get a message sahing make is not foud, bad. This probably indicates that the folder into which you have downloaded make is not in the windows path. You will need to add that folder to the path and test again.
Instructions on modifying the windows path are to be found here. And may God have mercy on your wretched souls.
Modern versions of the Mac OS include a make utility. A Mac is after all simply the most expensive of Unix like laptops.
All linux distributions include a make utility.And indeed include many, many things that are sources of joy and wisdom both.
Pandoc is a utility that translates between a very wide variety of document formats, such as PDF and HTML, LaTeX and Word and so on.
Pandoc is installed as part of the RStudio installation as a package, but it is worth installing it separately - we won’t need standalone pandoc in the sessions, but it will prove valuable as people progress.
Instructions are for debian and Ubuntu based systems. Use the terminal to install git with the following commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gitIf you need commands for another installation look at this page.
Each learner will need to register for a git hub account.
All learners should make sure that the accounts exists and that they know the userid and password before the first session.